1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a structure for the display and dispensing of tickets. More particularly, this invention relates to a unit which is demountably attachable to another unit in a stackable arrangement and rollers slidably mounted on slotted posts in an exit slot for dispensing the tickets.
2. Description of the Prior Art
While the use of stackable box-like structures for displaying and dispensing of tickets has been known for sometime, the most common and popular method for attaching such structures in a stackable arrangement has been either permanent or not lockable. Generally these methods require that the units be permanently attached such that they could not be taken apart, or that units were not lockable and could be removed by anyone, including unauthorized persons. Permanent mounting does not allow the flexibility for replacing individual units in the stackable arrangement, and nonlockable mounting presents a security problem.
While the use of rollers for dispensing tickets through an exit slot has been known for some time, the most common and popular method for mounting such rollers has been a single diameter throughbore on a post such that the clearance between the roller and the dispensing edge of the exit slot remains constant. The problem with this arrangement is that it does not allow for the varying thicknesses of tickets or dimensional variances inherent in an injection molding process. If the thickness of the ticket is less than the clearance between the roller and dispensing edge, then the ticket strip is not held in place so that the dispensed ticket may be properly separated from the strip. If the thickness of the ticket is greater than the clearance between the roller and dispensing edge, then either the tickets could not be dispensed through the slot or the tickets would be damaged by friction, especially those tickets with rub-off protective coatings.
A stacked display and dispenser structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,939. While the structure in this patent is stackably mountable, the only means for mounting two structures together is by fixing them together with some sort of adhesive or other external permanent means. Therefore, there is no means within the patent for demountably attaching the structures.
The present invention provides an integral engagement means for demountably attaching the structures in a stackable arrangement.
Ticket dispensers with tension exit means are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 978,052, 2,887,247, 4,738,384, and 5,100,038. While the devices disclosed in these patents utilize a tension dispensing means, all of them are more complex than the present invention, requiring springs and/or manual adjustment in order to properly function.
The present invention provides a simplified means for continual proper tension on the tickets as they are drawn through the exit means, with no need for springs or manual adjustment.